RE: Freighters/Merchants question

There is a third way which mixes both methods.
If the cargo pods are long Hexagonal shapes, then both methods could be
used
at once.

The main spine is hexagonal (and the same dimensions as the standard
cargo
pod or same dimensions as set of 6 pods); you get multiple layers of 6
hexagonal pods (with some overlap).  Depending on the spine length, you
could easily have four or five sets of pods with maximum contact area.
On the outside layer, you could attach any sphere pods (as they would
have
at least two connection points onto the hex pods; more likely four).  Or
the
spheres could be buffered between the stacks of hex pods along the
spine.

ascii art:
       |xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx|
       |XXXXooooXXXXooooXXXXooooXXXX|
       |xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx|
    TUG|----------------------------|ENGINES
COMMAND|------------SPINE-----------|ENGINES
    TUG|----------------------------|ENGINES
       |xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx|
       |XXXXooooXXXXooooXXXXooooXXXX|
       |xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx oo xxxx|

Block of "xxxx" and "XXXX" are multiple layers of hex pods (4:1 ratio
for
length) and each block of "o" is a single sphere pod.  In 3 dimensions,
the
above picture has 96 hex pods (in 4 blocks of 24; 3 layers) and 18
sphere
pods (in 3 blocks of 6; 1 layer).  This way it covers both solid cargo
and
liquid cargo.  The two tugs are for emergencies and planets without
their
own orbital facilities.

The only problems (like all stacking methods) is to get to the central
set
in case of emergency.  In zero gravity, its easy enough to just jettison
them all and collect them again after the emergency is over.

Brendan
'neath southern skies

> -----Original Message-----
> From: B Lin [mailto:lin@rxkinetix.com]
> Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 6:48 AM
> To: gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
> Subject: Long post - RE: [OFFICIAL] Freighters/Merchants question
> 
> 4-layer stack of spheres provides direct access to 29 
> spheres/modules out of 30 (4x4 (16), 3x3(9-1),2x2 (4) and 1x1 
> (1)), the remaining 1 module in the center can be used for 
> life support or as the single "structural" sphere to hold the 
> whole mass together. Larger masses (a 5-layer pyramid has 55 
> units, a 6 layer pyramid has 91) will have more inaccessable 
> modules, but if you are shipping 91 at a time, chances are 
> that a large portion are being dropped at a single location, 
> in which case, entire layers are dropped off at once.
> 
> A pyramid design ensures that each component is connected to 
> at least 2 other components and as many as 8.  If a single 
> structure fails, unless it is an outer component, there are 
> at least two other components taking up the slack.  
> 
> --Binhan
> 

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